He could not tell whether she forgave him or not. Her mood felt icy.
"I must thank you again for putting yourself, your brother and your guards at such risk to protect me and my staff."
Before he could respond, loud boots clunked down the steps and Reid came into view.
"M'laird! A coach and riders are approaching from the wood."
Cyrus strode forward. "Who is it?"
"We'll find out soon enough." Reid rushed back up the stairs. Cyrus and Elspeth followed.
"Could it be my coach?" she asked.
"Mayhap. If 'tis Henry, inform the servants they are to hide out in the cellar."
While she headed toward the kitchen, he hastened outside to see who was approaching. After climbing the steps and entering the gatehouse, he squinted into the distance and scanned the new arrivals.
"'Tis Lady Grey's coach and four MacKenzies. Sean and James have brought Hubert and Cecil. What the devil?"
"Where are Fraser, MacNeil and Irving?" Reid's disturbing question reflected Cyrus's thoughts exactly.
"'Slud," Cyrus hissed. Had they not made it back to the castle? Maybe taken a different route? "If Fraser made it to Rebbinglen, the only reason he wouldn't have returned is if he's injured."
"Or captured," Reid said.
"Hell. I can't even think of that." Nay, he didn't want to, but he had to.
As the party drew closer, he saw that Elspeth's coachman drove the horses and coach while her guard with the broken arm rode beside him. Her maid sat inside. And then… only four MacKenzies. Not the two dozen reinforcements he'd sent Fraser and his two bodyguards for. His stomach ached with worry for those three, especially Fraser. He couldn't lose his younger brother.
Reid appeared as concerned as he felt. "Are you thinking that blackguard killed them?"
It felt as if a battering ram smashed into his vitals. He went by gut feeling most of the time, and this one was hellish.
One of the arriving MacKenzies shouted a warning at the same moment Cyrus noticed movement in the bushes at the side of the road.
"Dalacroy's men are attacking!" Cyrus grabbed the bow and quiver which had been propped against the gatehouse wall. After nocking an arrow, he aimed out the open window and drew the bow string back. As soon as he had a clear view of the archer across the road, he released the arrow. It struck the enemy in the throat and he fell backward.
"Let's get Lady Grey's servants inside!" Cyrus ran down the gatehouse steps, Reid and Norval following.
Cyrus put the keys into Reid's hand. "Open the gate and let the coach in while I hold the bastards back."
Once Reid had unlocked the gate, one of their sword-wielding foes leapt from the bushes and charged toward Sean. Cyrus aimed and released. The arrow struck the enemy in the chest. He spun and attempted to flee back into the undergrowth, but he fell before he made it far. Another enemy escaped into the wood before Cyrus could aim. Had that been all of them—three?
"Drive in! Quickly!" Cyrus commanded the coachman. That was when he saw that James, one of his most seasoned guards, had been struck in the thigh with one of the enemy arrows. Cursing, Cyrus ran toward him, then called his other men. "Get James inside!" He placed himself between James and the bushes and nocked another arrow, his gaze scanning the thick undergrowth. Sean and Hubert quickly carried James through the gates.
Once everyone was safely inside, Reid locked the gates back.
"Watch closely for them," Cyrus told Reid and Norval. "Tell me if you see any movement. The whoreson who fled may bring a larger force back with him."
∞∞∞
After Elspeth told her kitchen staff their plan should an attack occur, she hurried back through the hall to the front portal. Her own coach sat in the courtyard and chaos reigned. Jenkins, with his arm in a sling, and Vance scrambled down off the seat. The men were shouting and two of them carried one of Cyrus's guards. An arrow protruded from his thigh.
"Oh, saints!" she hissed. Henry's men must have attacked. She hurried out onto the steps, seeing that the gates were now closed, then held the door open. The guards rushed the injured man—whom she now saw was James—inside the hall.
"Hurry upstairs and fetch Mistress Almsly," Elspeth told Gracie, who stood nearby. "Tell her a guard has been shot with an arrow."
"Aye, m'lady." The lass hastened up the stairs.
